Ballerz Take Home Peach State Crown

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And the Ballerz are the champions.

Tarius Johnson (Liberty Tech) scored 19 points and his partner in crime Demarius Smith (Kenwood) added 17 as the Mid State Ballerz West downed the Worldwide Renegades 73-72 to capture the loaded Peach State Classic. 

The Ballerz ran the table with a 7-0 mark dominating the competition throughout the week.

Anthony Green (Manassas), Cordero Williams (Liberty Tech) and Kaneal Windom (JCM) all scored 8 in the title win and surprising Chris McClurken (Dickson County) finished with 6. 

Johnson was tremendous the entire event averaging 30 points per game for the week. Smith played outstanding at both guard spots and was the party starter with some of his dunks over unsuspecting big men. McClurken came out of nowhere to help run the point and provided some scoring as well. Green, Williams and Windom all had a asolid event.

The Ballerz now head to Memphis for the River City Showdown which starts tomorrow.

The Mid State Ballerz South squad had a tough week losing two games on buzzer beaters but showed they could play with anyone. E.J. Perry (Westmoreland) was the scoring leader at around 14 per game. Chance Jones (Prep) gave the Ballerz South a spark of intensity and was the second leading scorer at 12 per game. 

Also contributing solid efforts were Tyler Smith (Anderson County), Zach Sherrill (Stone Memorial), Ryan Beetle (Lebanon) and Micah Ballard (William Blount) 

 

Over in the 16 and under division the Knoxville Panthers had a nice showing despite losing to the Carolina Elite, who incidentaly won the state AAU's in North Carolina. Cory Billingsley (Sweetwater) led the way with 22 points and Skyler Brown (Seymour) added 19. Dylan Ward (Hampton) playing in his first game of the event added 16 points and his new teammate Dustin Clarke (Hampton) added 8. Preston Vaught (Science Hill) led the team with 8 rebounds.